Our Winnebago is gone......

[mylo]

Perhaps a little education for those of us that have never set foot inside one like that.... John asked about the system it uses for the tag axle. I assume the tag axle is to increase the GVWR?

I had no idea that they moved up and down or that some "dumped the air at lower speeds" to them. What does all that mean? If it is a manual system where the driver can raise or lower it - couldn't you unintentionally overload the rear axle if you raised it when the rig was loaded?

These big rigs fascinate me, as they seem to be more like commercial trucks than a passenger vehicle. As you can tell, I am clueless.


Mylo

 

[Kevin Means]

Wow. Beautiful coach! It was disappointing indeed to see a company that made such a fine product go out of business. Congratulations on your purchase!

Kev

 

[John Canfield]

Perhaps a little education for those of us that have never set foot inside one like that.... John asked about the system it uses for the tag axle. I assume the tag axle is to increase the GVWR?

Exactly.  The federal weight limit per axle is 20,000 pounds, so with a very heavy coach, you need another axle to spread the load

I had no idea that they moved up and down or that some "dumped the air at lower speeds" to them. What does all that mean? If it is a manual system where the driver can raise or lower it - couldn't you unintentionally overload the rear axle if you raised it when the rig was loaded?

The problem with tag axle tires is that when you make a sharp turn, the pivot points are the drive axle tires and you drag the tag axle tires on the ground (tire scrub.)  The solution at low speeds and sharp turns is removing some or all of the weight off the tag axle tires.  Freightliner simply dumps the air in the tag axle bags while others (more complicated and expensive) is to lift the axle to where the tire is completely off the ground

Side-note: The other issues with tag axle tires are more rolling resistance (worse MPG), two more tires to keep up with/replace and you loose some basement storage

There are some tag systems that are fully automatic, and some that have a manually operated tag axle.  We drove a 25 passenger church bus several years ago that had a manually operated tag axle (yes, we have a commercial driver's license with a passenger endorsement  8))

Overload with the weight off the tag?  Great question.  Probably but at slow maneuvering speeds for a brief period of time it's not a big deal

 

[yolo]

Last October we traded our 2004 WinneBAGO Vectra for a 2013 Thor Tuscany.  Still a Freightliner chassis and Cummins engine.  Lost side radiator and gained .5 mpg.  Lost IFS, Smart Wheel, remote locks and basement door locks.  Gained a lot, king bed, fire place 4 HD TVs as if we needed that many, 1 1/2 baths, residential refrig.  All in all I don't miss the things that aren't on the new coach.  Winnebago makes a great coach, but others do too.

 

[John Canfield]

Thor make makes a good coach.

 

[mylo]

That was a great explanation, John. Thank you!


Mylo

 

[Betty Brewer]

It has an electric flush john that has a water saver feature but it seems to use more water than what we had on the Journey.  So, the black tank is filling up in about 3 days instead of the 5 we are used to with the Journey. 

Have you checked to see if you have it in  "water saving mode?  Ours has an adjustment  as to the amount of water used when flushing.  We set it to low water levels when boondocking. We can go  waaaaaay longer than 5 days.

Betty
Magna 99

 

[John Canfield]

That was a great explanation, John. Thank you!


Mylo

You're quite welcome!

 

[2dalake]

Have you checked to see if you have it in  "water saving mode?  Ours has an adjustment  as to the amount of water used when flushing.  We set it to low water levels when boondocking. We can go  waaaaaay longer than 5 days.

Betty
Magna 99

Tell me more.  This is the Thetford 'Tecma' toilet system.  The booklet does say you can adjust the amount of water that remains the the bowl after flushing but nothing about limiting the amount used when it flushes.